Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community
Oriented Policing Services (COPS) today announced grants to help five cities
continue their efforts to successfully re-integrate ex-offenders back into the
community. The $1.2 million in grants was awarded to organizations in Boston,
Detroit, Kansas City, Oakland, and Washington, D.C. under the Justice
Department's Value-Based Reentry Initiative (VBRI) grant program.

Funding for the program comes from a partnership between the Department of
Justice's COPS Office and Office of Justice Programs, and the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.

The funds will support demonstration projects in each of the five cities that
received grants. The VBRI program provides resources that support partnerships
between faith-based organizations, community groups, law enforcement agencies,
and other criminal justice entities. These organizations will select and train
mentor teams that will then assist returning offenders with finding services and
resources such as job training, housing, and health care, as well as provide
critical support in negotiating the social challenges associated with reentry.

"These grants will help communities assist ex-offenders with their
transition from being incarcerated to becoming law-abiding citizens," said
COPS Director Carl R. Peed. "There are 2.1 million offenders in America's
prisons, and the overwhelming majority of them will return to their communities
upon release. These grants will help build local capacity to receive
ex-offenders, and ultimately the grants will help reduce recidivism and keep
communities safe."

Today's Value Based Reentry Initiative is one of many programs administered
by COPS to advance community policing. COPS supports innovative community
policing initiatives, funds the purchase of crime fighting technology, provides
training and technical assistance resources, and funds the hiring of local law
enforcement officers. Since 1994, COPS has invested $10.6 billion in support of
state and local law enforcement agencies, including more than 13,000 grants to
hire over 118,000 officers.